diff --git a/app/vmalert/README.md b/app/vmalert/README.md
index 4c93979c3..773873039 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/README.md
+++ b/app/vmalert/README.md
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ may fail;
 * by default, rules execution is sequential within one group, but persisting of execution results to remote
 storage is asynchronous. Hence, user shouldn't rely on recording rules chaining when result of previous
 recording rule is reused in next one;
-* there is no `query` function support in templates yet;
 * `vmalert` has no UI, just an API for getting groups and rules statuses.
 
 ### QuickStart
diff --git a/app/vmalert/alerting.go b/app/vmalert/alerting.go
index 3b607eb4c..592d35226 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/alerting.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/alerting.go
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) Exec(ctx context.Context, q datasource.Querier, series b
 		}
 	}
 
+	qFn := func(query string) ([]datasource.Metric, error) { return q.Query(ctx, query) }
 	updated := make(map[uint64]struct{})
 	// update list of active alerts
 	for _, m := range qMetrics {
@@ -158,14 +159,14 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) Exec(ctx context.Context, q datasource.Querier, series b
 				a.Value = m.Value
 				// and re-exec template since Value can be used
 				// in templates
-				err = ar.template(a)
+				err = ar.template(a, qFn)
 				if err != nil {
 					return nil, err
 				}
 			}
 			continue
 		}
-		a, err := ar.newAlert(m, ar.lastExecTime)
+		a, err := ar.newAlert(m, ar.lastExecTime, qFn)
 		if err != nil {
 			ar.lastExecError = err
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create alert: %w", err)
@@ -245,7 +246,7 @@ func hash(m datasource.Metric) uint64 {
 	return hash.Sum64()
 }
 
-func (ar *AlertingRule) newAlert(m datasource.Metric, start time.Time) (*notifier.Alert, error) {
+func (ar *AlertingRule) newAlert(m datasource.Metric, start time.Time, qFn notifier.QueryFn) (*notifier.Alert, error) {
 	a := &notifier.Alert{
 		GroupID: ar.GroupID,
 		Name:    ar.Name,
@@ -264,16 +265,16 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) newAlert(m datasource.Metric, start time.Time) (*notifie
 		}
 		a.Labels[l.Name] = l.Value
 	}
-	return a, ar.template(a)
+	return a, ar.template(a, qFn)
 }
 
-func (ar *AlertingRule) template(a *notifier.Alert) error {
+func (ar *AlertingRule) template(a *notifier.Alert, qFn notifier.QueryFn) error {
 	var err error
-	a.Labels, err = a.ExecTemplate(a.Labels)
+	a.Labels, err = a.ExecTemplate(qFn, a.Labels)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	a.Annotations, err = a.ExecTemplate(ar.Annotations)
+	a.Annotations, err = a.ExecTemplate(qFn, ar.Annotations)
 	return err
 }
 
@@ -393,6 +394,8 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) Restore(ctx context.Context, q datasource.Querier, lookb
 		return fmt.Errorf("querier is nil")
 	}
 
+	qFn := func(query string) ([]datasource.Metric, error) { return q.Query(ctx, query) }
+
 	// account for external labels in filter
 	var labelsFilter string
 	for k, v := range labels {
@@ -421,7 +424,7 @@ func (ar *AlertingRule) Restore(ctx context.Context, q datasource.Querier, lookb
 			m.Labels = append(m.Labels, l)
 		}
 
-		a, err := ar.newAlert(m, time.Unix(int64(m.Value), 0))
+		a, err := ar.newAlert(m, time.Unix(int64(m.Value), 0), qFn)
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create alert: %w", err)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/config/config_test.go b/app/vmalert/config/config_test.go
index 0539986e3..13dd21731 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/config/config_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/config/config_test.go
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
-	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/notifier"
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/notifier"
 )
 
 func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@ func TestParseBad(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 		{
 			[]string{"testdata/dir/rules2-bad.rules"},
-			"function \"value\" not defined",
+			"function \"unknown\" not defined",
 		},
 		{
 			[]string{"testdata/dir/rules3-bad.rules"},
@@ -137,12 +138,14 @@ func TestGroup_Validate(t *testing.T) {
 						Alert: "alert",
 						Expr:  "up == 1",
 						Labels: map[string]string{
-							"summary": "{{ value|query }}",
+							"summary": `
+{{ with printf "node_memory_MemTotal{job='node',instance='%s'}" "localhost" | query }}
+  {{ . | first | value | humanize1024 }}B
+{{ end }}`,
 						},
 					},
 				},
 			},
-			expErr:              "error parsing annotation",
 			validateAnnotations: true,
 		},
 		{
diff --git a/app/vmalert/config/testdata/dir/rules2-bad.rules b/app/vmalert/config/testdata/dir/rules2-bad.rules
index 57ed21357..903921921 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/config/testdata/dir/rules2-bad.rules
+++ b/app/vmalert/config/testdata/dir/rules2-bad.rules
@@ -6,6 +6,6 @@ groups:
         expr: vm_rows > 0
         labels:
           label: bar
-          summary: "{{ value|query }}"
+          summary: "{{ unknown|query }}"
         annotations:
           description: "{{$labels}}"
diff --git a/app/vmalert/config/testdata/rules2-good.rules b/app/vmalert/config/testdata/rules2-good.rules
index 3a015d3eb..a3ce92342 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/config/testdata/rules2-good.rules
+++ b/app/vmalert/config/testdata/rules2-good.rules
@@ -7,11 +7,18 @@ groups:
         expr: sum(vm_tcplistener_conns) by(instance) > 1
         for: 3m
         annotations:
-          summary: "Too high connection number for {{$labels.instance}}"
+          summary: Too high connection number for {{$labels.instance}}
+            {{ with printf "sum(vm_tcplistener_conns{instance=%q})" .Labels.instance | query }}
+              {{ . | first | value }}
+            {{ end }}
           description: "It is {{ $value }} connections for {{$labels.instance}}"
       - alert: ExampleAlertAlwaysFiring
         expr: sum by(job)
           (up == 1)
+        annotations:
+          summary: Instances up {{ range query "up" }}
+            {{ . | label "instance" }}
+            {{ end }}
       - record: handler:requests:rate5m
         expr: sum(rate(prometheus_http_requests_total[5m])) by (handler)
         labels:
diff --git a/app/vmalert/datasource/datasource.go b/app/vmalert/datasource/datasource.go
index de0265d24..5e6aa32d3 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/datasource/datasource.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/datasource/datasource.go
@@ -34,6 +34,17 @@ func (m *Metric) AddLabel(key, value string) {
 	m.Labels = append(m.Labels, Label{Name: key, Value: value})
 }
 
+// Label returns the given label value.
+// If label is missing empty string will be returned
+func (m *Metric) Label(key string) string {
+	for _, l := range m.Labels {
+		if l.Name == key {
+			return l.Value
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 // Label represents metric's label
 type Label struct {
 	Name  string
diff --git a/app/vmalert/group_test.go b/app/vmalert/group_test.go
index d8b98dcdd..093817abf 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/group_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/group_test.go
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ func TestGroupStart(t *testing.T) {
 	m2 := metricWithLabels(t, "instance", inst2, "job", job)
 
 	r := g.Rules[0].(*AlertingRule)
-	alert1, err := r.newAlert(m1, time.Now())
+	alert1, err := r.newAlert(m1, time.Now(), nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("faield to create alert: %s", err)
 	}
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ func TestGroupStart(t *testing.T) {
 	alert1.Labels["host"] = inst1
 	alert1.ID = hash(m1)
 
-	alert2, err := r.newAlert(m2, time.Now())
+	alert2, err := r.newAlert(m2, time.Now(), nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("faield to create alert: %s", err)
 	}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/main.go b/app/vmalert/main.go
index d90a3f31c..ea6922d86 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/main.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/main.go
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ func getAlertURLGenerator(externalURL *url.URL, externalAlertSource string, vali
 		"tpl": externalAlertSource,
 	}
 	return func(alert notifier.Alert) string {
-		templated, err := alert.ExecTemplate(m)
+		templated, err := alert.ExecTemplate(nil, m)
 		if err != nil {
 			logger.Errorf("can not exec source template %s", err)
 		}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/notifier/alert.go b/app/vmalert/notifier/alert.go
index 04d4d0a71..e71b549ea 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/alert.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/alert.go
@@ -62,21 +62,23 @@ const tplHeader = `{{ $value := .Value }}{{ $labels := .Labels }}{{ $expr := .Ex
 
 // ExecTemplate executes the Alert template for give
 // map of annotations.
-func (a *Alert) ExecTemplate(annotations map[string]string) (map[string]string, error) {
+// Every alert could have a different datasource, so function
+// requires a queryFunction as an argument.
+func (a *Alert) ExecTemplate(q QueryFn, annotations map[string]string) (map[string]string, error) {
 	tplData := alertTplData{Value: a.Value, Labels: a.Labels, Expr: a.Expr}
-	return templateAnnotations(annotations, tplHeader, tplData)
+	return templateAnnotations(annotations, tplData, funcsWithQuery(q))
 }
 
 // ValidateTemplates validate annotations for possible template error, uses empty data for template population
 func ValidateTemplates(annotations map[string]string) error {
-	_, err := templateAnnotations(annotations, tplHeader, alertTplData{
+	_, err := templateAnnotations(annotations, alertTplData{
 		Labels: map[string]string{},
 		Value:  0,
-	})
+	}, tmplFunc)
 	return err
 }
 
-func templateAnnotations(annotations map[string]string, header string, data alertTplData) (map[string]string, error) {
+func templateAnnotations(annotations map[string]string, data alertTplData, funcs template.FuncMap) (map[string]string, error) {
 	var builder strings.Builder
 	var buf bytes.Buffer
 	eg := new(utils.ErrGroup)
@@ -85,10 +87,10 @@ func templateAnnotations(annotations map[string]string, header string, data aler
 		r[key] = text
 		buf.Reset()
 		builder.Reset()
-		builder.Grow(len(header) + len(text))
-		builder.WriteString(header)
+		builder.Grow(len(tplHeader) + len(text))
+		builder.WriteString(tplHeader)
 		builder.WriteString(text)
-		if err := templateAnnotation(&buf, builder.String(), data); err != nil {
+		if err := templateAnnotation(&buf, builder.String(), data, funcs); err != nil {
 			eg.Add(fmt.Errorf("key %q, template %q: %w", key, text, err))
 			continue
 		}
@@ -97,8 +99,9 @@ func templateAnnotations(annotations map[string]string, header string, data aler
 	return r, eg.Err()
 }
 
-func templateAnnotation(dst io.Writer, text string, data alertTplData) error {
-	tpl, err := template.New("").Funcs(tmplFunc).Option("missingkey=zero").Parse(text)
+func templateAnnotation(dst io.Writer, text string, data alertTplData, funcs template.FuncMap) error {
+	t := template.New("").Funcs(funcs).Option("missingkey=zero")
+	tpl, err := t.Parse(text)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error parsing annotation: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/notifier/alert_test.go b/app/vmalert/notifier/alert_test.go
index f663be1c0..bc4e7d2c3 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/alert_test.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/alert_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package notifier
 
 import (
 	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/datasource"
 )
 
 func TestAlert_ExecTemplate(t *testing.T) {
@@ -60,11 +62,41 @@ func TestAlert_ExecTemplate(t *testing.T) {
 				"exprEscapedPath":  "vm_rows%7B%5C%22label%5C%22=%5C%22bar%5C%22%7D%3E0",
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:  "query",
+			alert: &Alert{Expr: `vm_rows{"label"="bar"}>0`},
+			annotations: map[string]string{
+				"summary": `{{ query "foo" | first | value }}`,
+				"desc":    `{{ range query "bar" }}{{ . | label "foo" }} {{ . | value }};{{ end }}`,
+			},
+			expTpl: map[string]string{
+				"summary": "1",
+				"desc":    "bar 1;garply 2;",
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
+	qFn := func(q string) ([]datasource.Metric, error) {
+		return []datasource.Metric{
+			{
+				Labels: []datasource.Label{
+					{Name: "foo", Value: "bar"},
+					{Name: "baz", Value: "qux"},
+				},
+				Value: 1,
+			},
+			{
+				Labels: []datasource.Label{
+					{Name: "foo", Value: "garply"},
+					{Name: "baz", Value: "fred"},
+				},
+				Value: 2,
+			},
+		}, nil
+	}
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			tpl, err := tc.alert.ExecTemplate(tc.annotations)
+			tpl, err := tc.alert.ExecTemplate(qFn, tc.annotations)
 			if err != nil {
 				t.Fatal(err)
 			}
diff --git a/app/vmalert/notifier/template_func.go b/app/vmalert/notifier/template_func.go
index abfd8fc91..e643d5880 100644
--- a/app/vmalert/notifier/template_func.go
+++ b/app/vmalert/notifier/template_func.go
@@ -14,21 +14,40 @@
 package notifier
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	html_template "html/template"
 	"math"
 	"net/url"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
-	text_template "text/template"
 	"time"
+
+	htmlTpl "html/template"
+	textTpl "text/template"
+
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/app/vmalert/datasource"
 )
 
-var tmplFunc text_template.FuncMap
+// QueryFn is used to wrap a call to datasource into simple-to-use function
+// for templating functions.
+type QueryFn func(query string) ([]datasource.Metric, error)
 
-// InitTemplateFunc returns template helper functions
+func funcsWithQuery(query QueryFn) textTpl.FuncMap {
+	fm := make(textTpl.FuncMap)
+	for k, fn := range tmplFunc {
+		fm[k] = fn
+	}
+	fm["query"] = func(q string) ([]datasource.Metric, error) {
+		return query(q)
+	}
+	return fm
+}
+
+var tmplFunc textTpl.FuncMap
+
+// InitTemplateFunc initiates template helper functions
 func InitTemplateFunc(externalURL *url.URL) {
-	tmplFunc = text_template.FuncMap{
+	tmplFunc = textTpl.FuncMap{
 		"args": func(args ...interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
 			result := make(map[string]interface{})
 			for i, a := range args {
@@ -40,8 +59,8 @@ func InitTemplateFunc(externalURL *url.URL) {
 			re := regexp.MustCompile(pattern)
 			return re.ReplaceAllString(text, repl)
 		},
-		"safeHtml": func(text string) html_template.HTML {
-			return html_template.HTML(text)
+		"safeHtml": func(text string) htmlTpl.HTML {
+			return htmlTpl.HTML(text)
 		},
 		"match":   regexp.MatchString,
 		"title":   strings.Title,
@@ -151,6 +170,24 @@ func InitTemplateFunc(externalURL *url.URL) {
 		"quotesEscape": func(q string) string {
 			return strings.Replace(q, `"`, `\"`, -1)
 		},
+		// query function supposed to be substituted at funcsWithQuery().
+		// it is present here only for validation purposes, when there is no
+		// provided datasource.
+		"query": func(q string) ([]datasource.Metric, error) {
+			return nil, nil
+		},
+		"first": func(metrics []datasource.Metric) (datasource.Metric, error) {
+			if len(metrics) > 0 {
+				return metrics[0], nil
+			}
+			return datasource.Metric{}, errors.New("first() called on vector with no elements")
+		},
+		"label": func(label string, m datasource.Metric) string {
+			return m.Label(label)
+		},
+		"value": func(m datasource.Metric) float64 {
+			return m.Value
+		},
 	}
 }